Oh boy...Sherlock YouKnowWho just cracked the BIG CASE! The "A" case.
It has always bothered me as to why they did the tank mouse with the A1200. It's such an obvious mismatch. Then I looked at the product line logic and anything mini that went to full size by RGL went to full size in the same model. C64 for example. They didn't do the full size C64C, they kept it the original look C64. So...what happened to the A500 full size? Why is the A1200 shipping instead in the full-size model and with a darn tank mouse? Well, CASE solved!
The A1200 enclosure is a nearly 10cm shallower (smaller) than the A500. If RGL did the A500 FULL, they would have to deliver bigger boxes, mostly empty space inside the case as it is likely just a same/similar small board with a ARM Cortex A53 that physically already fits in a tiny A500Mini. Cost efficiency is important. So, how to ship a full size Amiga wedge in full size but efficiently? Best choice would have been A600, except A600 is not entirely loved, so could be an obstacle to "want to buy" impulse. Plus no numbers pad - a feature many of us like. So it was between A500 and A1200, and since the logical thing would be to just do the full size of a popular 500 model, no one will be mad about getting an A1200 look if it means smaller packaging/volume/logistics savings. Same keyboard shape after all. So, A1200 was the choice. In mini this case size issue between 500 and 1200 wasn't a big deal. But in full size it matters much more.
So, it is perhaps not the tank mouse that is the outlier in this BOM, but it is the A1200 case. It should have been the top-selling A500 FULL, but Amiga 1200 case design proportions offered a more compact format vs Amiga 500 for better pallet count out of the China factory and logistics cost. Between A500Mini and Full only the case was going to be changed in the BOM, with USB-type caseless keyboard added same regardless, so why not choose the Amiga 1200 design efficiency? The larger A500 FULL would have likely resulted in a higher pricepoint for customer. There, giant mistery of why there is no A500Full and why A1200 comes with tank mouse SOLVED! ...I think.
Boys and girls, above is what happens when you have some extra time on your hands.
